Conveyer for bolts



4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 14, 1952 INVENTOR Filed Oct. 14, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 14 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR If). 6 Kb.

April 3, 1934. w PE|RE 1,953,257

CONVEYER FOR BOLT S Filed Oct. 14, 1932 4 heets-Sheet 4 E .I I INVENTOR mm 0. @u'w Patented Apr. 3, 1934 UNITED STATES 4 Claims.

This invention relates to heating apparatus, and consists in conveying mechanism which, in association with a heating furnace of suitable structure, affords means for carrying elongate 5 articles, such, for example, as the spindle-shaped blanks of which bolts are formed, through a region of heat, whereby heating and softening the blanks are at one end prepared for further shaping, and, specifically, for the formation of heads upon them by the usual swedging operation.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. I is a View in front elevation of a heating furnace having, associated with it, conveying mechanism adapted to accomplish the ends indicated. Fig. II is a view showing the same assembly partly in plan from above and partly in horizontal section, as

indicated by the line II-II, Fig. I. Fig. III is a View to larger scale and. in transverse section, on

the plane indicated at III-III, Fig. II. Fig. IV is a view in end elevation, showing a portion of the conveying apparatus. Fig. V is a view in detail, showing in side and end elevations a certain slide rail which in Fig. III appears in vertical and transverse section.

A furnace 1 (Figs. I-III includes a fire-box 2, provided with an elongate and horizontally extending mouth 3. Through this mouth, when the furnace is in operation, the incandescent gases stream. An opening '7 through the front wall of the furnace affords access, so that the articles to be heated may be introduced from without, to protrude into the mouth 3 of the fire-box. Along the extent of the fire-box mouth a succession of articles,in this case spindle-shaped bolt blanks B-extending through opening '71, is caused to advance. The position is best shown in Fig. III;

and, with Fig. III particularly in View, it will be perceived that, as a blank advances along the extent of the furnace, its right-hand end exposed 40 to flame is heated and softened, and so made ready for the ensuing operation of swedging a head upon it.

Conveying apparatus sustains blank B in the position shown in Fig. III, and causes it to ad- Vance from end to end of the furnace, rolling as it advances. The conveying apparatus includes two spaced-apart, parallel supports adapted jointly to sustain a spindle-shaped article extending transversely of and resting by gravity upon them, one of said supports affording a track upon which a supported article may roll and the other consisting of a helically finned, rotary shaft, to,- gether with a stop-rail extending in parallelism with said supports and arranged adjacent to said helically finned shaft and on he side thereof opposite that upon which the track-affording support extends, and presenting to the article resting transversely upon the supports a surface disposed in a plane perpendicular to the axis. thereof. The track-affording support 4 is a stationary structure mounted in the opening in the furnace Wall and extends adjacent to and in parallelism with the mouth 3 of the fire-box. It is conveniently and advantageously formed of metal, hollow, and water-cooled. It is preferably prismatic: polygonal in cross-section-in the drawings it is shown to be triangular. The prismatic shape afiords a greater rigidity against thermal distortion than a cylindrical shape would afford; and, furthermore, a rail so shaped may afford knife-edge support for the work. This advantageous feature is clearly shown in Fig. III. It will be found convenient and advantageous to form this supporting rail 4 minutely as indicated in Fig. V. It there is shown to be made up of a succession of sections 40, each section being provided with circulation pipes for the cooling stream of Water. Each section 40 is provided with a tongue 41 welded to place and adapted in the assembly to overlie the next adjacent section, and so to aid in maintaining alignment of the sections under fluctuating temperatures. The sectional construction is manifestly advantageous from the manufacturers point of View, since froman indefinite supply of identical units he may make installations with furnaces different inlength. This Water-cooled, knife-edged support, of the triangular cross-section, shown in Fig. III, presents to the stream of flame emerging from the fire-box an upwardly inclined limiting and guiding wall to which in Fig. III the numeral 4 is immediatelyapplied, and screens the portion of the, supported article that extends to the left of thesupport 4 from'the flame, and is effective to concentrate heating within the region desired.

The stop rail 5 is spaced atan interval from and extends in parallelism to the supporting rail 4; it is arranged on the side of the supporting rail opposite to the fire-box mouth. Between'the supporting rail and the stop railextends the helically finned, rotary shaft 6.

These three elements of the conveying apparatus are so proportioned and arranged that a blank B may rest transversely and in horizontal position upon supporting rail 4 and shaft 6, abutting at its left-hand end (Fig. III) upon stop rail 5, andprotruding at its right-hand end into the mouth of the fire-box. The stop-rail 5 presents to the blank.B a surface that extends in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the blank. The

Ill)

fin upon shaft 6 is such in proportion that a blank B may lie between successive turns of the helical fin, and in a position transverse to the conveying apparatus and perpendicular to the stop rail 5 (of. Figs. II and III). The direction of the turn of the helix of the fin upon shaft 5 is here shown to be right-hand; and, understanding the direction of shaft rotation to be counter-clockwise (Fig. III), it will beperceived that rotation of shaft 5 tends simultaneously to shift the blank from right tole'ft (Fig. III) and thus to maintain it in abutment at its left-hand end upon-stop rail 5, and to roll it forward from right to left (Figs. I and II) upon the supporting rail '4 throughout the extent of the furnace. And-it is found in actual experience that a single finned shaft 6 suffices, in cooperation with stoprail"5,"to maintain the advancing-blank always in position, perpendicular to the stop rail and transverse to the length of the mouth of the fire box.

In order to make accommodation, andto adapt jthe apparatus of agiveninstallationfto thehanidling jof articles of different length, the 7 stop rail j 5 andwith'it theffinned, shaftffi I may 'bemade adjiusta'ble initheir spacing "fromthe supportin'gjra'il end the stop rail '5, and the shaft '6 -are mounted iupon blocks 8,.8,1and 9, and these b1oeksmay be shifted upon supports '10. In Fig. II afdriv'en block Qcarries the .gear wheel '12 (in mesh "with the beveled wheel upon the laterally adjustable shaft '6) .Gear wheel 12 will-be understood to be splined to. shaft .11, andJtliu's driving Tconnection is maintained in all positions of adjustment.

Means are provided, in association with the 1 rail and shaft assembly described, for feeding to such assembly longj and-short blanks, alternately. Referring to Figs. I and II, two bin s, 13 and 14, are shown, adapted to receive and hold respectively supplies o'flong blanks (binl3) and-short blanks (bin '14)". The "bin 13 jis'of such size as to contain a quantity 1) of blankslyin'gin fparallelism within it. One wall of fth'e b'in fis defined by a'pair of upwardly and outwardly inclinedjparalllel shafts 15 (cf. ,Fig. IV). The shafts are equipped -with helical "fins, and means are pro- 'vided for rotating the shafts in unison. The direction of turn of the fins upon the two shafts "is the same (left-hand, as shown) andthe bin iwall 1'6 adjacent the shaft on the right (Fig. IV is perpendicular tothe extent of a blank Bborneby the f nned shafts. The direction of shaft rotation is clockwise, Fig. IV. Theeffectof rotation of :the shafts 15 .is to withdraw blanks B from "the :quantity 5 within the bin, to align them by end- :wise abutment upon wall 16, 'andto advance them one by one to the upper ends [of the shafts I5. The bin is so combined with theconveyerparts first described (rails 4 and 5 and shaft'G) that a :bla'nkB upon reaching the upper ends of shafts '15 descends by gravity across "the upper ends of the saidshafts, to an inclined plate 17, and rolls down plate 17 to position upon and at the receiving end of the conveyer parts 4, 5, and 6. (From Fig. II the inclined plate 17 is, for clearer illustration of other parts, omitted.) It may be that, because of irregularity of shape, particular blanks rolling down jplate 17 may be displaced in axial direction. If such displacement be in divrection toward the fire-box mouth the action of the finned shaft 6 will aifordcorrection; but, to afford correction incas'e of displacement in opposite direction, the stoprail 5 'is-,.at the blank-re- ,ing end thereof '(cf..Fig. II). I its lower end is cut away on one side, so that,

ceiving end, thrown back at an angle, as indicated at 55, Fig. II. Displaced blanks abutting upon this angled portion of the stop rail are, as they are carried forward, brought to proper position.

Figs. I and II show the shafts 15 to be driven from the same shaft 11 that drives shaft 6. These figures show the direction of turn of the fins upon shafts 15 to be opposite to that of the fin upon shaft 6, the direction of --rotation of shafts 15 to be opposite that of shaft 6, and the position of the wall 16, which co-operates with the shafts 15 This opposite arsignificance or importance. In order to drive shafts '15,'whose upper ends of necessity are free,

and;the shaft'6-aswell, from a common source of rotation (the driven shaft 11) counter shafts 18 are provided; and, in order to obtain reversal in the direction of rotation, intermediate pinions 19 are interposed between those with which shafts "I5a'nd'1'8 are equipped.

'Oneof'the two 'helicallyfinned shafts 15, with its driving connections, is shown to be mounted "upon wheels 20 that run on tracks 21, and by such means the spacing of the two shafts may be adjusted and accommodated to supplies or blanks of different lengths that. may {from time to time be placed inbin 13. The bin l3 is, in the particular installationshown, 'i'riten'dedffor blanks of relatively great length.

For shorter blanks the second bin 14 is provided. The bin .14 also is 'adap'tedto contain a quantity b of blanks lyingjin parallelism within it. One wall of the bin is defined by a'rotatable "drum 22 provided with peripheral pockets; and

this pocketed drum, rotating in counter-clockwise idirection (Fig. I) is adapted to withdraw blanks from the "quantity b within the bin and to deliver them one byone over its upper face and awayto the ,left. Organized with the drum i's'a chute 23, adapted to receive the blanks one by one as they escape by gravity from the descending left-hand face (Fig. I) of drum 22. chute is inclined from-the point o'f blankreception downwardly; and bin and chute are so organized and assembled with the 'c'onveyer parts first described (the falls 4 'and5 and the shaft '6) thattheblank, descending chute 23, c'o'r'n'esto rest in abutment upon stop rail 5at the receiv- The chute toward while effective to guide and deliver the blanks to the parts 4, 5, and 6, the blank, immediately on ,ly such that the shafts 15 and the drum 22 may be driven in alternation. Conveniently, the

shaft 11 carries a sprocket wheel v24: (Fig. IV)

which, by means of a clutch 25, may be united with the shaft, to drive the drum 22. The rotationof shaft -11, accordingly, is adapted to produce rotation of drum 22 in harmony with the blank-advancing rotation of the finned shaft 6,

and blanks b are automatically removed from hopper 14 and fed in succession through the furnace.

It is advantageous, if not'es'sential, to maintain blank-feeding shafts l5 inactive while the The blanks are being fed from nopper 14, and to this end the shafts 18, which, as explained, drive the shafts 15, are each separated partway of their length. The lower section of each shaft 18 '(Fig. I) is integrated with a clutch element 26, and the upper section of the shaft carries a complementary clutch element 27. Clutch element 27 is feathered upon the upper shaft section, and is adjustable into and out of engagement with the clutch element 26, so that, rotation of the lower section of each shaft 18 may be effected, or not, as the attendant desires. It will be understood, therefore, that the attendant closes clutch 25 (on shaft 11) and releases the clutches 26, 27 (on shafts 18) when the blanks are to be fed from hopper 14. Hence the drum 22 revolves, and blanks b are fed to and propelled through the heating furnace 1, the shafts 15 in the bin 13 remaining idle. Alternately, when longer blanks b are desired, the shafts 15 are brought into play and blanks are fed from bin 13. To effect this change, the attendant closes clutches 26, 2'7 and releases clutch 25. Accordingly, drum 22 remains idle, while the shafts 15 are revolved in simultaneity with the finned shaft 6, to feed blanks b from the bin 13 and through the furnace 1. When the two shafts 15 are brought into operation, to feed blanks from the bin 13 into the furnace, the inclined chute 23 is withdrawn to such a position as is indicated in dotted lines in Fig. II. Thus, the blanks upon leaving the shafts 15 and rolling down plates 1'7 (Fig. I) are accorded free passage until they come to rest upon the conveyer parts 4 and 6.

I claim as my invention:

1. In apparatus for conveying spindle-shaped articles, two parallel supports spaced apart 1aterally and adapted jointly to sustain such an article extending transversely of and resting by gravity upon them, one of said supports affording a track upon which the supported article may roll and the other support consisting of a rotary, helically finned shaft, together with a stop-rail extending in parallelism with said supports and arranged adjacent the helically finned shaft and on the side thereof opposite that upon which the track-affording support extends and presenting to the article when resting transversely upon the supports a surface extending in a plane transverse to the axis thereof.

2. In apparatus for conveying spindle-shaped articles, two parallel supports spaced apart laterally and adapted jointly to sustain such an article extending transversely of and resting by gravity upon them, one of said supports affording a knife-edged track upon which the supported article may roll and the other support consisting of a rotary, helically finned shaft, together with a stop-rail extending in parallelism with said supports and arranged adjacent the helically finned shaft and on the side thereof opposite that upon which the knife-edged support extends and presenting to the so supported article a plane surface transverse to the axis thereof.

3. In apparatus for conveying a spindle-shaped blank along the extent of a furnace mouth, a horizontally extending rail upon which a supported article may roll and adapted to form the lower lip of a furnace mouth, a helically finned rotary shaft, laterally disposed with respect to and extending in parallelism with said rail, and adapted in cooperation with said rail to sustain a blank extending transversely of and resting by gravity upon such cooperating parts, together with a stop-rail with a plane and vertically extending face arranged on the side of the helically finned shaft opposite that upon which the rail extends, its said plane surface extending perpendicularly to the axis of an article resting as aforesaid upon rail and shaft.

4. In apparatus for conveying a spindle-shaped blank along the extent of a furnace mouth, a water-cooled horizontally extending rail with obliquely disposed side upon which a supported article may roll, adapted to form the lower lip of a furnace mouth with the obliquely disposed side of the rail arranged on the inner side of the mouth of the furnace, a helically finned rotary shaft, laterally disposed with respect to and extending in parallelism with said rail, and adapted in cooperation with said rail to sustain a blank extending transversely of and resting by gravity upon such cooperating parts, together with a stop-rail with plane and vertically :extending face arranged on the side of the helically finned shaft opposite that upon which the rail extends, its said plane surface extending perpendicularly to the axis of an article resting as aforesaid upon rail and shaft.

WILLIAM B. PEIRCE. 

